Obscenity and Film Censorship: An Abridgement of the Williams Report

Cambridge Philosophy Classics

by Bernard Williams (Editor)

The Williams Report on Obscenity and Film Censorship provoked predictably strong reactions in Britain when it first appeared (in 1979), both from those who had read it and from those who had not. It is reissued here, in an abridged form, in the belief that it ought to be more widely read and more fully discussed. The practical issues and political principles examined in the Report are certainly of very general and continuing interest, and the report will remain a crucial point of reference for all future public discussion of the subject, whether in Britain or elsewhere. This edition presents all the main findings and arguments of the full report, omitting only the length appendices. There is a preface which explains the background and briefly comments on the reception of the report.

Genres: Philosophy

176 pages, Hardcover

First published October 29, 1981

About the author

Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams was an English moral philosopher. His publications include Problems of the Self (1973), Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy (1985), Shame and Necessity (1993), and Truth and Truthfulness (2002). He was knighted in 1999.
As Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and Deutsch Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, Williams became known for his efforts to reorient the study of moral philosophy to psychology, history, and in particular to the Greeks. Described by Colin McGinn as an "analytical philosopher with the soul of a general humanist," he was sceptical about attempts to create a foundation for moral philosophy. Martha Nussbaum wrote that he demanded of philosophy that it "come to terms with, and contain, the difficulty and complexity of human life."
Williams was a strong supporter of women in academia; according to Nussbaum, he was "as close to being a feminist as a powerful man of his generation could be." He was also famously sharp in conversation. Gilbert Ryle, one of Williams's mentors at Oxford, said that he "understands what you're going to say better than you understand it yourself, and sees all the possible objections to it, and all the possible answers to all the possible objections, before you've got to the end of your own sentence."

Reviews

[Gort · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dolorum consectetur vel ea porro sit ipsa quas. Facilis dicta quasi ipsam itaque perspiciatis ut qui. Laudantium inventore reprehenderit quia. Quia fugiat et.